That action would result if man suspected of performing lewd acts posts bail, judge rules

If a Murrieta nurse bails out of jail while awaiting a resolution of criminal charges that he performed lewd acts on patients, his license to practice will automatically be suspended, a judge ruled Friday.

Paul Robert Simon, 53, was being held at Southwest Detention Center on Friday with bail set at $200,000.

With the possibility that Simon could post a bond and be released, Judge Angel Bermudez said he wanted to make sure that the man would not be able to pursue his profession until the charges are resolved.

The suspension was sought by the state Board of Registered Nursing, said Deputy District Attorney Jason Stone.

“If he posts bail, they don’t want him to be a danger to anyone,” he said.

The state board will not otherwise act on his license until a resolution is reached in the court case, Stone said.

Appearing in court in a jail uniform, Simon did not oppose the conditional suspension of his license.

He is charged with three counts of sexual battery on a medically incapacitated person and two counts of lewd acts by a caretaker on a dependent adult. He could face six years in prison if convicted of all the charges, as well as have to register as a sex offender. Simon has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

The counts stem from allegations that the defendant, while working at Rancho Springs Medical Center in Murrieta, had sexual contact with two female patients.

Authorities allege that, in April 2009, he used an incapacitated female patient’s hand to sexually stimulate himself and that, in August 2010, he touched an intimate area of the body of a 57-year-old woman who was in intensive care.